In conventional switching devices, such as contactors, each pole to be switched has a terminal contact in the form of a fixed contact on the input side and on the output side. To make or break the contact, the corresponding fixed contacts are closed or opened by a contact bridge, which is operated by an electromagnetic operating mechanism. In such devices, the externally accessible fixed contact terminals are usually formed by screw-type terminals which are accessible from the side and can be screwed down and released from the top side of the housing or by spring clamp terminals which are accessible from the side or from above and which can also be released from the side or from above.
Such a switching device having connection terminals of this type is already known from German Publication DE 201 20 504 U1. This switching device is equipped with screw-type terminals on one terminal side and with different connector elements, such as spring clamp terminals, on the other opposite terminal side.
Moreover, German Patent Application DE 100 23 851 A1 describes a connecting terminal for switching devices, where a standard screw connection can be replaced with a module for spring clamp connection.